Nigerian Institutional investor and developer, Novare Real Estate Nigeria Limited (NREN) on Monday, September 11 listed four of its Grade A retail properties for sale on local Nigerian media.

The properties are located in Lagos and Abuja including the Lekki Mall, Apo Mall Abuja, Novare Central Mall, and Gateway Mall Abuja. This is according to reports from Estate-Intel.

The Grade A properties include three retail malls and one mixed-use commercial property that includes both office and retail spaces.

Details of the malls

The Lekki Mall was completed in 2016 and occupies a 21,000 m² space located along the Lekki-Ajah expressway. It houses brands such as ShopRite, Genesis Deluxe, JED Lifestyle, Miniso, etc.

The Apo Mall is located in the Dutse area of the FCT and occupies a space of 8,000 m². It has a 97% occupancy rate as of June 2023 and houses notable brands like Megastores, PEP, BAFFI Furniture, Krispy Kreme, Shoprite, etc.

The Gateway Mall was completed in 2017 and is located along the airport road in Abuja. It sits on a 14,000 m2 area and houses notable firms like BAFFI Furniture, Funworld, Genesis Deluxe Cinema EHA Clinics, etc.

And finally, Novare Central, which is located in the Wuse Zone 5 area and occupies an 11,000 m2 area. It houses brands such as Shoprite, The Vue, Esteem Furniture, Active Leisure, etc.

The sale of these properties will signify Novare’s exit from Nigeria as they are the only real estate investments the company has in Nigeria.

About Novare

Novare Real Estate Nigeria Limited (NREN) is a commercial property development and management firm with a decade of experience in property development, and management across Nigeria and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa like Zambia, Mozambique, etc.

Two UK-based Nigerian firms, Access Bank UK Limited and Daniel Ford International, were in Nigeria on Tuesday this week for a UK Property Roadshow held at Oniru, Victoria Island, Lagos. The Roadshow provided an opportunity for the firms to educate Nigerian investors on investing in real estate in UK, highlighting the benefits and methods of such investment.

Both Access Bank and Daniel Bank teams, led by Johnson Ememandu and Yemi Edun respectively, came with several critical members that covered all the different important bases any client would need from a compliance officer all the way to a Chartered Accountant.

“The point was to display the depth and robustness of their service offerings,” Edun, who is Daniel Ford’s CEO, noted that the event, which had Roosevelt Ogbonna, the CEO of Access Bank Plc, and Victor Etuokwu, the DMD, in attendance, was not meant to say that investing in the UK showed a lack of patriotism or belief in the Nigerian project, but was, instead, a critical component of any wealth management or building portfolio, as even countries have foreign reserves.

According to him, London has a deep market offering with appeal across the world due to the legacy of the British empire. “To illustrate the point, London’s airports combined handled high passenger volume, numbering 133.8 million whilst global travel recovers from the COVID pandemic.

At its peak, pre-covid in 2019, it handled 177.6 million passengers. That is almost an equivalent of the population of Nigeria,” he said.

These and many more factors, he added, make London a robust and versatile environment to invest in real estate and maintain wealth or even build.

Edun also addressed the current interest rate rises and low stock of properties and the resultant effect on the buyer, revealing that the white-hot rental market was giving sizeable yields with upfront payments of up to 18 months for Landlords and finally increased-Anti Money Laundry checks.

He explained that Anti-Money Laundering checks have gone up from lasting just a few hours to lasting up to two months now. “However, this is good as it keeps out drug dealers and criminals who would bid up property prices unfairly compared to what the average buyer can cover,” he said.

The well-attended event was populated by a lot of professionals looking at pension plans, estate planning, and and answers to questions on how they could make their estates outlive them.

There were a lot of questions on how, where, and what to buy. There was also curiosity about what was a better buy, between leaseholds and freeholds. These questions and many more were engaged with and answers provided for a highly engaged audience.

Lekki Gardens has announced the successful redemption and repayment to all subscribers of its N3.48 billion Series 1 (Tranche A) commercial paper (CP) issuance under the N25 billion CP programme approved by FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited in June 2022

The company commended its stakeholders for the support and confidence reposed in its brand and operations. The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lekki Gardens, Dr. Richard Nyong, while speaking on the successful CP redemption, stated: “We very much appreciate the support and confidence of the market and are happy to have fully redeemed and repaid all subscribers to our first Commercial Paper issuance.

“The redemption is another testament to the strength and resilience of our business despite the very challenging operating environment. The past year was characterised by major headwinds which included the sustained increases in construction material prices, unprecedented rise in energy costs, further weakening of the local currency, rising inflation and interest rates among other factors. But we continue to take all necessary measures to remain focused and adaptable to sustain the brand’s consistent growth and performance over the years.”

The company’s debut into the local capital market was in 2021 when it raised N3.5 billion in three-year tenured private notes under the Private Corporate Bond (PCB) window of the FMDQ. The company has to date successfully met all coupon payments in line with the terms of the notes.